Breaking Point
by Elizabeth1985
Summary: An adventure results in Rose becoming ill and the Doctor must save her. During his worry and anguish, he considers his regrets. M Rating. I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I own the Cover Image.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A one-shot between the 10th Doctor and Rose that I wrote to perk myself up from winter blues. It's a short one and I am not sure if I will add a more 'M-Rating' second chapter or not. Please review and let me know if you want me to continue.**

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"I tried! It's not working!" Cried Rose over the noise of the ship they had landed on. He had relinquished his precious sonic to her so that she could find a way to seal the doors of the pod, two levels below - which was slowly filling with an infectious space virus from a broken lab chamber. The Doctor, meanwhile, had raced to the engine room to fix some doo-dad space part so the ship's systems stayed online long enough for them to contain the virus, and protect the people on the ship.

She removed her finger from the intercom button and awaited his response.

"Well keep trying!" He shouted back over the speakers. Well, _duh_. She thought. She was hoping for a little more expertise than that. She sighed and continued trying various settings on the sonic and pointing it at the security interface in the wall. The lights suddenly flickered and then shut down entirely. She pursed her lips together in consternation…

_Whoops…_

"Rooose…" She heard the Doctor's scolding voice over the speakers, "what did you do?"

"Umm… I'm not sure" She replied sweetly – smiling though he couldn't see her.

"Well turn them back on!" He cried, and she heard an echoing bang emit through the speakers and a faint grunt from the Doctor himself – obviously having bumped into something. Rose immediately resumed her work with the sonic and several moments later the lights flashed to life with a low electrical hum that buzzed above her head.

"Doctor – I think I've found it." She said, pressing the black button to her right. "I've got a screen showing Pod Five and I'm not entirely sure what the symbols are on the screen, but I am pretty sure the one in red should do it, yeah?" She asked, looking at the speaker as if she could see his voice come out of it.

"Nooo! Not the red command. Is there a … uhhh…" She heard the distinct sound of paper being shuffled as she waited for him to continue. "Riiiight… look for a long squiggly kinda line with some twirls and slashes in it, apparently that means '_to_ _seal' _in Jorbanii." He explained, sounding not the least bit sure this would work.

"You've got to be joking." She muttered to herself and she searched the panel for indistinct squiggles. She came across a command box with some kind of writing that sort of fit the description the Doctor had told her. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut as she brought her index finger to the screen. She made a squeaking, hopeful noise and pressed the screen on the command line and _really, really_ hoped she wasn't about to flood the ship with a deadly space virus.

A red box immediately appeared around Pod Five on the interface map and she sighed, hoping that was a good sign.

"Ok! Got it! Let's get out of here." She turned away from the wall and leaned against a flat portion of the corridor, waiting for her Doctor to return so they could leave. Blimey, she was tired all of a sudden. Well… she reasoned, they _had_ been racing around this bloody ship for hours now.

The Doctor, in a light jog, rounded the corner to her left and appeared smiling and triumphant. "Saved the world once again Rose!" He threw an arm around her shoulders as they made their way back towards the Tardis.

There were few people on the ship, but they had indeed saved them. The thought made her just as happy as it always did at the end of their adventures. She was important.

As they found themselves, once again, inside the Tardis, Rose collapsed on the jump seat. She was completely knackered. She felt her body become heavy and sluggish and allowed herself to nod off to sleep. Before her lids sealed shut, she saw the panicked expression of the Doctor flash over to her, his mouth dropping in shock. She could tell something was horribly wrong but, for the life of her, she could not stay awake.

The Doctor knew something was severely wrong with Rose when he saw her dissolve into unconsciousness. He immediately checked her pulse and was alarmed by the heat of her skin and the quickened rate of her heartbeat.

Nooo…. nononononono… he thought frantically. She was infected! He didn't know how it was possible. In that moment, he didn't care. He gathered her in his arms and rushed to the infirmary on his ship. His throat was tight with emotion as he laid her lifeless body on the examination table. He, chaotically, floundered around the room opening drawers after drawers, and cupboard after cupboard. He pulled out as many otherworldly vaccines and drugs as he thought might work. The Jorbanii virus that had been on that ship was deadly to their own kind and the Doctor hadn't a clue how a human would fair against it. He was terrified to find out.

He stopped abruptly, his arms tight at his sides, his fingers flexing into fists as he forced himself to think. The virus affected the white blood cells in a similar way that the Ebola virus did in Africa, he thought to himself. He had a counteragent from comparable solar system to earth that he thought might work, but it was more than a shot in the dark and he blistered at his uselessness. He looked over at Rose, her skin was glistening with moisture and had become sickly pale. Her head had listed to the side and faced in his direction in an almost accusing manner. If she died, it would be because of him, he thought morbidly.

The Doctor, finally steeled his resolve – having no better options – and plunged the needle containing the counteragent into the meat of her shoulder. His breath sawed in and out of mouth in a panic as he watched for any measure of change. He began pacing around the bed that sat in the center of the room.

Twenty agonizing, and terribly long, minutes later, he rechecked her pulse for the hundredth time and noted a small decrease in pace. The first good sign. He breathed a sigh of relief and hoped it wasn't premature.

He stayed by her side for hours, measuring the small changes in her breathing, her heartbeat, and the colour of her skin. As the pale skin slowly gave way to the pinkish hue that he loved so much, he brought a hand to her forehead and stroked his long fingers through her damp blonde hair.

After an unmeasurable amount of time, her body twitched in places. A finger lifting in a flash of movement; a shoulder muscle flickering as it came to life; and finally, her eyelids trembled with the searching movement from her eyes beneath. He held the air in his lungs as her lids slowly raised, and she saw him perched beside her – eager and anxious.

"Oh thank the Lords and Ladies of Gallifrey!" He lauded. His smile was warm as he continued stroking her hair and she observed him – her brows pulled together in bewilderment.

"Wha—" She began, and then cleared her throat before continuing, "what happened, Doctor?" She looked around at her surroundings with suspicion.

"You were…infected" His breath hitched on the words as he spoke and her eyes flared at the emotion she saw in his.

"Doctor, I'm alright though aren't I?" Her eyes were wide as she waited for his response.

"Yes, yes… yeah." He blabbered.

"Are you alright?" She added uncertainly.

"Uhh… sure. You just gave me quite the scare, there." The Doctor tried his best to reclaim his carefree attitude but as he looked down at Rose, his heart filled with the pain of what had almost happened. So many times he'd come close to losing her and if he had.. Oh God.. If he'd had, the regrets he would have felt would have been as immense and unshakeable as the expanding universe.

He'd never said it. They'd been travelling for almost two years now, and there had been so many times when the words had almost come spilling out of his mouth. He had always forced them back down his throat, terrified of what would happen when he'd said them. If what he felt became something real and if she died then, he knew it would probably destroy him. But as he'd spent the last few hours watching the life fight for existence inside her, he realized that if he'd missed his chance to tell her he loved her, he would regret it with such hatred of himself that he would become the man he'd always feared he might be. Brazen, unforgiving, and a terror to the universe. He couldn't have that.

She watched the emotions play across his features with hopeful interest. His hand was still resting on the crown of her head and he moved it to cradle the side of her face and he tilted his head to meet her stare. Her eyes locked onto his and widened at how openly he displayed his feelings for her. He breathed in a tenuous breath and leaned forward, he held her eyes as his lips met hers. He trembled with excitement. He had never kissed her before, and if she was shocked by it, she didn't show it. She breathed in through her nose and moved her lips against his, taking control of the kiss he'd initiated. He felt her palm caress his cheek and he stilled at the contact. Her lips moved in a way so as to part his own and he felt her tongue slide into his mouth. The sensation was exquisite. Her taste, her smell… everything about her set fire to his body. He skin was warm and prickly, and his stomach tightened in arousal. The kiss morphed from sweet and slow, to passionately urgent with the speed of a train.

The feeling in his heart was triumphant as their hands grabbed for each other. If he had saved a thousand worlds and a thousand species, he would not have felt as good as he did in this moment. His love for her had reached its breaking point, spilling over the vestiges of his control, and he rejoiced in giving himself to the most important thing in the whole of the universe.

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**A/N: Well that was a fun little one to write. I may add more to this if anyone wants. Reviews are very welcome. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry it took so long. I have been extremely busy with work before the Xmas Holidays. Promise I will write more over the holidays.**

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The Doctor gathered Rose in his arms, smiling warmly at her and walked out of the infirmary towards his bedroom.

"Doctor.. where are we going?" Rose smiled impishly, knowing exactly where they were going. He had been in love with her for far too long and he just didn't want to wait anymore. He kissed her forehead as they crossed through the opening of the door and then paused, they both looked at the bed and then beamed at each other. The look was almost childish, like they had just woken up to Christmas morning and a tree full of presents.

Rose scissored her legs up and down in his arms and the Doctor flew them to the bed, tossing her on it where she bounced excitedly. Suddenly she paused and just stared at him.

"What? Are you alright? Too soon? Do you still feel ill? I can -"

"Oh, shut up Doctor, s'not that." She giggled. "It's just… I feel like I'm in a dream. It doesn't feel real." Here eyes were glazed and wide, a smile lifted the corners of her lips, and god, she was beautiful.

"It is definitely not a dream." He reassured and captured her face in his hands and resumed kissing her. He eased down on top of her as their mouths moved together in a delicious pattern of tongue and lips and small kisses that morphed into deeper more intimate kisses.

Her hands were running through his hair with her fingernails scraping at his scalp and it made him shiver in pleasure. She smelled so fresh and inviting. He kissed her lightly and then planted a peck on her cheek and then her jaw as he moved down her neck.

Rose moved her legs apart so that his body settled into the nook between her legs and the pressure against her core immediately sent a rush down below. She felt the Doctor's soft lips sucking and nipping at the soft spot on her neck, his tousled hair tickled her ear and she squirmed in pure undiluted glee.

Unable to contain her excitement she pushed her hips up and gasped when she felt the hard length of him press against her. His head shot up and he stared at her in a shocked and oddly disappointed expression that she didn't understand.

"Noooo…" He complained. "Ugghh!" He dropped his head roughly against her shoulder with a _thunk _and grunted in frustration.

"Umm. Doctor? What's wrong?" Her hand stroked his hair and neck. She had no idea what had happened but it didn't sound good. At least she could tell it wasn't… _ya know_… problems down there –she still felt him quite ready and hard against the inside of her hip.

"We can't." He sighed into her hair.

"What!? Why?" She abruptly sat up, throwing him to the side. There was no way they were stopping this. He had basically just admitted that he loved her with those looks back there, and then kissed her, and now everything was perfect. Rose couldn't hide her disappointment. She'd been in love with the mad Time Lord for so long, even before he'd regenerated.

"I'm sooo sorry. So, so sorry Rose. I should have thought ahead or something. Weeelll… s'not really the kinda thing you plan usually is it?" He scrunched his eyebrows and nose as he looked up at her from his position on the bed. He was laying on his stomach with his elbows supporting his head and shoulders off the bed.

"What are you talking about?" She said to the man whose face was again embedded in pillows.

"You're not on the pill." His voice came out muffled. Rose started to laugh then.

"It's fine Doctor, I've got protection." She started to get off the mattress to go to her room. She knew she had condoms somewhere. A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down on the bed.

"That won't work." He said resolutely.

"Umm.. why not?" Here she was thinking she was about to get some long overdue love-making and instead was about to get a Time Lord / Human mating biology lesson. She pouted and sat there. This was _really_ not the way she was expecting this to go.

"Time Lords…uhh breakdown latex and any other barriers as well. It's sort of like a reproduction assurance thing. Though with a human I honestly don't even know if anything, ya know, could happen. But I just… I'd rather not take that chance." He face-planted the pillows again and grunted in frustration.

"I'm so smooth, aren't I?" He asked dryly, peaking up at her. She grabbed his shoulders and after much struggling since he was doing nothing to help her, she managed to turn him over. Once in position, she straddled his hips and bent down to kiss him.

After a deep kiss that left them breathless, she pulled back and looked down into his blue eyes that were crinkled at the corners from his eager smile. "Let's just enjoy kissing each other, yeah? We'll pretend we're teenagers!" She laughed, landing a peck against the corner of his mouth.

"I'd rather just be us." He smiled. "The Doctor and Rose!" His hands threaded into her hair and pulled her down into a warm kiss.

And did she ever feel like a teenager! They continued making out, barely separating until they needed air, and one or both of them had started a slow back and forth movement of their lower bodies. The friction was maddening!

Her core was pounding and she craved more. She slid her legs further apart, deepened the kiss and used the one hand not tangled in his messy hair to bring his hand around to grab her bottom.

The Doctor hummed in delight and pushed her rear harder against him.

_Ooh… ohmygod, ohmygod..…_ She thought. He repeated the same grind into her hips through their clothes, and without warning, an orgasm shattered through her, sending her body culvusing and jerking on top of him. The Doctor continued to rub her against him, using both hands gripping her bottom he helped her ride out the pulses of her release.

Her face was flush and her smile was bright but loose from the delicious post-orgasm fog that slowed her movements like she was drunk.

"Umm…" She nudged into the Doctor's neck who was breathing quite heavily still above her.

"I _am _good!" He said in triumph as he kissed her hair on the top of her head.

She laughed and glided her palm down his body. She felt his muscles flex and strain as she made her way down. She looked down his body, following the path of her hand and saw the bulge through his striped trousers. She smiled and looked up at him, feeling like she should ask permission.

He opened his eyes and they were filled with arousal. She loved the heated look in them. She knew she'd caught glimpses of it here and there but she'd always second-guessed herself. He licked his lips and a hand came up to the back of her neck and massaged the sensitive spot and the base of her scalp. She took that as all the invitation she needed and closed her palm around the hard warm swell in his pants. His eyes drifted closed and his mouth parted.

Rose scooted up a little and slipped her tongue between the parted lips and felt a moan escape him and reverberate into her mouth. She grabbed harder on to him and began rubbing him with a quicker pace.

The Doctor's body pulled tight, the movements of his tongue and lips stilled, and a hand clamped down onto her own as he pushed into both of their palms and shook. A low groan escaped his mouth as he continued to move her against him. She could feel the dampness through the cloth and smiled against his mouth, feeling quite proud of herself.

His breathing was still heavy but his eyes found her and they grinned stupidly at each other.

"When I kissed you and realized that I could no longer love you from afar, I honestly was hoping to follow that up by wowing you with my otherwordly love-making." He smiled cockily at her. "But, instead you get teenage-boy, horny Doctor instead." He laughed and continued caressing her with his hands.

She had frozen as he spoke. Though deep down she knew he loved her, it was another thing for him to say it, even if he obviously didn't realize he had.

She brought her lips on his and squeezed his face against hers with an intensity she couldn't hold back. When she finished her assault, and met his bewildered expression, she quickly gave him a chaste kiss, and felt her face split into an unstoppable megawatt smile. Her eyes stung a bit and she had to blink to avoid any of that spilling over.

"I love you too, Doctor."

The Doctor blinked in surprise and a heartbeat later his mouth was on hers again in a fury.

"Oh, Rose. I love you. I've always loved you." His voice reverent as it crossed between their lips.

It wasn't how she'd always pictured it. But there was something to be said for anticipation. And, blimey! They hadn't even gotten undressed! If he could drive her this mad through their clothes –_Eeek_! –she could only imagine how perfect and amazing and… _fantastic_ things would be when they would finally be able to make love.

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**A/N: I know you were expecting some love-making but just wasn't in the cards for them right yet. It will happen though!**


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